Atmosphere helps UM excel vs. UNH

ORONO – The University of Maine hockey team’s defensive tenacity, physical play and depth have been three of the primary ingredients in their success.

It was never more evident than this past weekend’s sweep of arch-rival New Hampshire, 5-4 and 5-0, at the Alfond Arena.

Maine did allow three goals in the final 3:43 of the Friday win but responded with a thorough performance on Saturday.

“We saw how well we could play, especially Saturday night,” said junior right wing John Ronan. “We shut down a high-powered offensive team and put up some numbers ourselves. We’ve really focused on our transition to defense all season. That’s what we did this past weekend with the exception of five minutes [Friday night] and we came out with four big points.”

Maine, now 19-6-1, has remained the second stingiest team in Division I, allowing 1.73 goals per game. Brown is the stingiest at 1.62.

“Our line doesn’t like giving up scoring chances and the other lines stress that, too,” said sophomore center Jon Jankus. “Our offense comes from our defense. If you play strong defense, that leads to transition chances on offense.”

UNH junior Sean Collins, the left wing on the high-powered line that also features Nathan Martz and Steve Saviano, said the Bears did an impressive job shutting down their line.

“They took away our quick cuts and ability to cycle the puck,” said Collins.

“When you have goalies like Frank [Doyle] and Jimmy [Howard], you know they aren’t going to give up many easy goals. We feel really confident with two goalies like that,” said junior defenseman Troy Barnes. “We try to clear away the rebounds and the forwards have done a great job coming back to help us out.”

Doyle and Howard have combined for a school-record six shutouts this season.

Howard’s 1.39 goals-against average leads the nation and Doyle’s 1.85 GAA is fourth best. Howard’s .942 save percentage is second.

Maine was without freshman defenseman Tom Zabkowicz, who took a shot in the ankle off the stick of Prestin Ryan in practice, but Mat Deschamps and Steve Mullin filled in nicely.

Junior center Ben Murphy had two different linemates on Saturday when Josh Soares and Luciano Aquino replaced Brent Shepheard and Keith Johnson.

“This team is definitely deep. No matter who coach [Tim Whitehead] puts in there, he can’t make a bad decision. Everybody wants to play and they all buy into the system and the family atmosphere here. That’s what makes us such a strong team,” said Murphy.

Mullin hadn’t played in nine games and Deschamps had been a healthy scratch for seven.

Deschamps played both games while Mullin replaced Travis Wight on Saturday.

“Soares and Mullin might have been two of our best players on Saturday,” said Barnes.

Whitehead and the players also raved about the sellout crowds and the dynamic atmosphere both nights.

“That gives you a big boost when you’ve got a sellout crowd for warmups,” said Jankus.

“It was amazing. You had the ThunderStix on Friday night and people waiting in line for tickets since the morning,” said Barnes, who said the fans are a real motivating force.

“I’ve been in a lot of big games up here but it was as electric as I’ve ever seen it up here,” said Whitehead. “I was anxious to see if there was the same electricity the second night without the noisemakers and it was just as good if not better than Friday night.”

Maine is now 10-1 at Alfond Arena.

The otber bright spot was Maine’s power play, which converted three times in five chances on Saturday after going 3-for-34 over the previous seven games.

“We’ve been working on it a lot lately. The defensemen got the puck through to the net, they didn’t get their shots blocked, and we got some rebounds,” said freshman center Michel Leveille.

“It was very encouraging,” said Whitehead. “I think it’s going to come on and be a plus for us when we need it the most.”

Maine hosts College Hockey America member Alabama-Huntsville, which is 9-9-2, for a pair this weekend.

“We can’t take them lightly, We’ve got to play them like we did UNH,” said Barnes.